Hard economic times for Stockton government will last for years

By now, predictions that California will be in a budget crisis for years should shock no one. And if the state's in a budgetary pickle, how could it be otherwise in Stockton?

By now, predictions that California will be in a budget crisis for years should shock no one. And if the state's in a budgetary pickle, how could it be otherwise in Stockton?

Last week, the City Council got just that news. City budget projections indicate an $18.4 million general fund deficit next year and a $26.2 million shortfall the year after that.

These deficits are predicated on no further concessions from employee unions, especially police and firefighters, whose departments' budgets make up about 80 percent of the general fund.

Unfortunately, there are those who will dismiss the dire predictions as posturing. It benefits City Hall, the argument goes, to make things look as bad as possible in order to wring as much as possible out of the labor unions.

That's cynical, perhaps, but plausible if there was some slush fund that had been secreted away to keep the city going in the meantime.

The fact is, just as is the case with the state, city revenues have taken a drastic cut. Stockton's revenue comes primarily from two sources: property and retail sales taxes. Property values have plummeted in recent years, and retail sales, although starting to come back, also have dropped.

Those facts are among the reasons councilmembers earlier this year declared a fiscal emergency. That move, they say, gives them the right to void labor contracts negotiated in good faith when times were flush. Those contracts call for automatic pay increases the city cannot afford.

The unions have gone to court to fight the budget measures imposed by City Hall and at the same time are preparing to negotiate new contracts. The police contract expires in about 19 months; the firefighters' contract ends next summer.

On Nov. 2, city voters returned more budgeting power over the Fire Department to City Hall when they approved Measure H. Its passage was not a game-changer, but without it passing, City Hall would not be able to rein in such things as runaway overtime in the department. Most significantly, Measure H ended binding arbitration of labor disputes with firefighters, a situation unique to that city department alone.

That means that whatever labor agreement there is will be decided at the negotiating table and not by an outside third party.

As we have again and again, we urge both sides to work together for a better Stockton. Sacrifice will have to be part of that equation, as the latest budget figures make clear.

No one expected the recession and its aftermath to go on this long or be this deep. Obviously, we should not expect a quick recovery. But recover we will, and when we come out the other side, we all want a Stockton poised to grow and prosper.

That means dealing with the reality we have, not posturing and not assuming the worst from the person who's sitting across the negotiating table.